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Local
Cigar City Brewery Owner Sells Controlling Interest
Retired Deputy, Bus Driver Speaks To Law School Students
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
In 2008, the residents of Carver City, a predominantly African American community, got word that businessman Joey Redner was opening a brewery in their community, they immediately sought out members of the City Council to stop the project.
What the residents were upset about was the volume of traffic the brewery would at- tract, and the added feature of a tasting room that would op- erate as a pub.
The brewery opened for business in 2009 with the tasting room, and two weeks ago, Redner decided he would sell controlling interest in the brewery.
Redner said the business grew faster than he expected, and he didn’t want to incur debt so he decided to sell some equity in the business.
“We decided to sell a major- ity share to Fireman Capital, a
CIGAR CITY BREWERY
Joey Redner and his dad, Joe Redner.
Retired Hillsborough County Deputy and Trailways Bus Driver, Clarence Fort was the guest speaker last month for the Stetson Univer- sity Law School Black Law Stu- dents’ Association Black History Gala. Fort’s grandson, Kaarl E. Brandon is a sec- ond-year law student at Stet- son. He introduced his
grandfather.
Fort talked with the stu-
dents about his civil rights ex- periences from the 1960s, when he led a sit-in at Tampa’s downtown F. W. Woolworth; through his years as one of the first African-American drivers with Trailways.
The gala was co-sponsored by Stetson’s Black Law Stu- dents Association and George Edgecomb Bar Association.
(Photos by Karun Rivero)
Boston-based private equity firm that already owns major- ity stakes in Oskar Blue, Per-
rin Brewing and the Utah Brewers Cooperative.
“I still have a financial stake in the business, and I’m stay- ing at the brewery and will also retain some form of own- ership.”
Redner’s father, Joe Redner, was given his 44% share of the brewery.
Joey Redner said nothing will change in the day-to-day operations of the brewery, and if anything they will be hiring more employees.
“Nothing is set in stone right now. From the outside, people will not notice any changes.
“This proposed deal would avail to me the interests Fire- man Capital has in the other breweries, and I still have cap- ital interest in two other brew- eries in the area.”
Joey Redner said he’s happy that the brewery be- came one of the biggest inde- pendent breweries in the area.
“I had been approached earlier by Anheuser-Busch, but I had reservations about selling out to such a large company.”
Clarence Fort was the keynote speaker for the Black History Gala at Stetson University College of Law.
Three generations of Forts: Kaarl E. Brandon; Candidate for Juris Doctorate, May 2017; Civil rights activist, Clarence Fort; and Dr. Kenyon Fort.
Fred Randall (campus public safety personnel), Chizom Oke- bugwo, Starcee Brown, Keria McCowen, Annette Collins and Zachariah Wade.
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